


On Your Mind

by BlunderGod (PompousPickle)



Series: Tumblr Prompts [4]
Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Lots of sparring and sexual tension, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 05:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4336427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PompousPickle/pseuds/BlunderGod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takeda agreed to help teach Jin the Shirai-Ryu whip technique. He didn't exactly bargain for everything that happened after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Various Jin/Takeda prompts.

“I’m going to be honest with you Takeda,” Jin said, holding up two heavy metal ropes, “I didn’t actually think you’d make good on your promise to teach me this.”

“And miss the chance to watch you get knocked down a few pegs? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Takeda wound up the whips on his battle suit and began to string them through his custom-made gauntlets. He had just finished showing Jin the dynamics of the rope, and explained the weight distribution. The Shaolin seemed thoroughly uninterested and unimpressed.

“You’re real funny.” Jin grabbed a pair of army-regulation gauntlets off of the ground and began to string the whips through, as Takeda had just demonstrated. He handled them with care, careful not to make the lengths uneven. The Shira-Ryu raised his eyebrows, impressed that Jin had been watching and listening after all.

Jin attached the gloves to his wrists and began to rotate his arms to get used to the weight. Takeda had to admit; he had some nice arms. He leaned back on the wall and watched for a few seconds as the muscles tensed and shifted. “All that archery does your arms a lot of good, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess. You should get into it. Though you probably don’t have the eye for it.” Jin stretched his arms left and right, getting himself warmed up. He tensed his back, letting the muscles on his shoulders flex and rotate. Takeda let out a small breath that he didn’t realize he was holding, before ending with a grunt.

“Okay, now you’re just showing off.” Takeda pushed himself off the wall, forcing himself to look away from his arms. He was no stranger to staring at Jin’s arms. Or abs. Or really any part of his body. But he had learned to push it aside in exchange for more pressing matters. And the most pressing matter at the moment was getting Jin to fall on his ass.

Takeda dislodged the whips with a quick snap of his wrists. “There is a small button inside of the wrists. With a firm clench, you should be able to unlock the ropes and set them out.”

Kung Jin nodded, flicking his wrists as demonstrated. Nothing came out. Another flick, and nothing. Soon, Jin was flapping his wrists uselessly in frustration, his thin patience already at its end. Takeda couldn’t help but laugh, moving closer to his friend and grabbing his wrist. With the slightest bend, Takeda freed the ropes and stepped back as the whips snapped forward, looking at his friend with the slightest smile.

“Oh like you didn’t have trouble with this the first time,” Kung Jin rolled his eyes and snapped the ropes back in. Taking a small step to steady himself, he tried it again. After another two minutes, he successfully dislodged one of the two ropes.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve been described as a child prodigy.” As funny as it was to watch Jin flap his arms around trying to get the gauntlets to work, there was more he wanted to do. He walked behind Jin, grabbing his wrists. “It’s a flex, not a full movement. You control the lengths of the whip with the tension of your muscles.”

“That doesn’t make any level of sense.” Jin grunted, and Takeda couldn’t help but notice the way the man shuffled back into Takeda’s body, if only for a second. The Shirai-Ryu reminded himself that it was likely unintentional.

“It’s not about sense. It’s about feeling.” Takeda squeezed on his wrist. He was barely an inch taller than his teammate, so it was challenge to see exactly what he was doing from behind. “Close your eyes.” A beat. “Are they closed? You’re going to have to tell me these things.”

Jin let out an exasperated sigh. “ They’re closed, Takeda. Get on with it.”

“Okay,” Takeda paused, trying to think of a way to describe this. His training in the Shirai-Ryu used very little words; learning came with action and reaction. Everything was sense and intuition. “Feel your muscles and tense them. As though preparing for a fight. Tense with the anticipation of Kombat, but not as though you’re in the heat of battle.”

He could almost feel Jin rolling his eyes. Still, with his fingers on the man’s wrist, he could feel the muscle twitch just slightly, letting out both of the ropes flawlessly. Takeda moved away from his friend with a proud grin. Jin only shook his head slightly and pulled the ropes back in, before throwing them out one more time with ease. His lips twitched upward as he threw his head towards Takeda. “Your move, Peter Parker.”

“Yeah, real cute,” Takeda murmured, before moving back and releasing his own whips from the reels. “Now I’m going to train you like Master Hasashi trained me.”

“Yeah? And how was tha-”

Jin was flat on his ass before he could finish the sentence. Takeda pulled the ropes out from under his teammate’s feet and gave him a second to get back up before swinging at him again. Jin managed to duck and roll out of the way of the first one before the second whip knocked him clear to the other side of the room.

Takeda pulled his whips back in and shrugged at the dirty look that Jin gave him. “Life’s not fair, Jin.” He said, knowing that the man’s next move would be to attack back. The archer pulled back the whips and let them fly forward towards Takeda, but they stopped short before reaching him and fell uselessly to the ground.

Jin pulled them back in without a moment to pause and sneered. Takeda did his best to suppress a laugh. “What? I’m still learning, okay?” He slid forward on the ground of the training room and let out the right whip one more time, managing to get close to Takeda’s leg before the ninja jumped away. “Never pegged Jacqui for being into assholes.”

Takeda stopped cold for just a second, which gave Jin enough time to pull his whip around and catch on Takeda’s arm. He was getting better, Takeda would give him that much. “One, I’m not being an asshole. This is just the best way to learn. Two, Jacqui and I are just friends, okay. Things got…” Takeda rolled his shoulders to loosen up his arms while he looked for the words. “We were caught up in the whole end-of-the-world thing. You know how that is.”

“She dumped you.”

“She wasn’t ready for commitment,” Takeda confirmed with a little sigh.  Jin stood still for just a moment, and Takeda could feel his sympathy like a pulse. Kenshi had told him that empathy was a normal thing, just passively picking up on the thoughts and feelings of others. He had never really experienced it until recently, but it was becoming more common.

Within an instant, the feeling was gone. Jin took a step back and dislodged the second rope, heading straight for Takeda. Takeda moved to the side this time, and returned with his own hit. The two whips snapped against each other, before returning back to their wielders. “I’ll wait for her though,” Takeda concluded.

“And if she never comes around?” Jin ran to his right and attempted to swing on a curve, catching Takeda off-guard. Unfortunately, the angle was wrong and the whip uselessly flung around, before finally hitting the ground with a decisive thud.

Takeda was getting tired of this talk. He was tired of romance and trying to impress everyone. He wanted to let off steam with his friend and maybe show off a little. So finally he shrugged and sent his whips flying forward. “Well then, I guess I’ll just have to move on.”

The whips grabbed Kung Jin immediately by the ankles and yanked him forward. He had the monk on his back in front of him, at the base of his feet. The ninja was just coming up with a snappy remark when he heard the telltale whiz of whips coming from Jin’s gauntlets. Before he could react, a single whip wrapped around his wrist and pulled him down, landing firmly on top of his teammate.

Takeda’s arms stopped his fall, leaving him a mere few inches above Jin, awkwardly hovering above him. He immediately released the whips and returned them to his gauntlets, expecting Jin to slide out from under him now that he was free. But the other man didn’t move. Instead, he merely tilted his head upward, looking directly at Takeda.

The two were nearly chest to chest, and Takeda could feel his friend breathing against him. His breath and heartbeat was completely steady and collected- unlike Takeda’s heart, which was going a mile a minute. He could always blame it on the sparring. But in the end, he knew it was something else. He just couldn’t exactly explain what.

Jin shifted his legs, forcing Takeda to spread out his knees and effectively straddle the man below him. Takeda couldn’t find any words to say if he wanted to. Jin only gave the slightest smirk. “What am I thinking?”

Takeda opened his mouth, but it took a few moments before words came out. “I don’t…” he paused for a moment, taking a second to notice the small freckles on Jin’s face. It was a nice face, he decided. “I don’t usually read my friends,” was all that he could say, his usually sharp tongue gone.

“You should try it some time.” Jin’s hips shifted just slightly, and Takeda was suddenly aware of every movement. “You might learn something.”

With that, Jin threw his arms back. Only then did Takeda remember that the other man’s whips were still wrapped around his wrists. Takeda flew forward, sliding across the room and finally stopping just in time to see Kung Jin standing up and walking over to him. On his back, he looked up his friend, frustrated at his own foolishness. And frustrated in other ways that he didn’t want to think about at the moment.

Jin held out his hand and helped the ninja back to his feel. “You’re learning quickly.” The words came out a little more breathless than Takeda had intended.

“No thanks to my teacher.” Jin began to unsnap the gauntlets from his wrist and wound up the ropes. “I think I’ll stick to my bow and arrow, if you don’t mind. Someone’s gotta have your ass in battle, after all.”

Takeda blinked rapidly a couple of times as his brain caught up with Jin’s words. _Have my ass_. He repeated the words to himself before finally mumbling “In Kombat, right,” more to himself than to the man in front of him.

For an instant, the two locked eyes and Takeda could pick up just a pulse of emotion. It was undefinable, but present and potent. Like all of his other unintentional reads, it was gone without any notice. Wanting to put the whole thing behind him, Takeda began to walk towards the training room door, Jin following him close behind him. “Who knows? Maybe you can teach me a thing or two about the bow and arrow?”

Jin only snorted. “Like I said, you don’t have the eye for it.” The two met outside the hallway, knowing that they were soon going to go their separate ways.

“That sounds like a challenge.” Takeda took this time to stretch his own muscles, as though he were looking for a fight. He wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to say goodbye to Jin just yet.

However, it seemed that Jin was done with him for today. “Perhaps.” He paused for a moment, and again, Takeda could feel it. A little sadness, some regret. And then something else, something new. “Hey, let me know how things go with Jacqui.”

“Yeah, I will.” Takeda wanted to say something else, but he couldn’t quite find the words. Jin turned his back to walk away, and he couldn’t help but raise his hand to his temple to take a quick glimpse at Jin’s thoughts.But before he could actually read the man, he put his hand down. He decided to let Jin’s thoughts and feelings be a mystery. Just for now, in any case. “I definitely will let you know.”


	2. Chapter 2

Jacqui and Takeda both loved the technology lab on the S-F base. To Jacqui, it reminded her of home. To Takeda, it was unlike anything he had ever seen. The whole room was covered in gadgets, wires and various tools, draped over rows of worktables. However, for a trained assassin who spent most of his life in the mountains, Takeda took to it quickly. The Shirai-Ryu found himself in the lab a lot, tinkering with the new toys that Jax and Jacqui had created, often working with the two of them to improve them. “Idiot-proofing”, Jacqui called it. Takeda didn’t appreciate the term.

“Try this.” Jacqui tossed the young man a gauntlet. Takeda looked at it thoroughly, running it through his hands before slipping it and pushing buttons. Most of them looked to contain data and communication links through a small radio network on the cuff. There was no static shock from wearing it, which was a nice change of pace from the previous prototypes. He rotated his arm, trying to get a feel for the weight before moving on.

The door to the lab swung open violently, clanging against the building’s metal walls. Cassie strode into the room as though she owned the entire place and everything inside, walking immediately to Jacqui. She was wearing her workout clothes, skin damp with sweat and red from exertion. She wrapped an arm around the woman and planted a kiss on her forehead, before turning to smile at Takeda. “How are my two favorite nerds?” 

“One:  I’m telling Jin that he’s not your favorite nerd anymore. Two: you are _covered_ in sweat.” Jacqui kissed Cassie’s cheek and pried the girl off of her. Takeda had never seen such open affection between the two before, though he had been sensing something between them for a while. Honestly, he should have seen the signs earlier. Still, he felt so strange watching the two, though he couldn’t put his finger on the feeling.

He tried to play it off though, leaning forward across a workshop table and watching the two. “My dad giving you a run for your money, Cass?” He knew Cassie was working with the trainers today, particularly with Kenshi and General Blade. And from the looks of it, she was putting in no small amount of effort into her workout.

“I wouldn’t say _that_. He’s lucky he can keep up with me.” Cassie gave a little smirk and glanced at the clock on the wall. “Crap. I got get back. I just wanted to sneak away to say hi to my favorite hottie on the Special Forces.” She paused for a beat. “Oh and also to say hi to you, Jacqui.”

Jacqui elbowed Cassie in the stomach and smiled. “Love you too, girl,” she said with an eye roll. But Takeda didn’t need to read her mind to know she meant it. The both did. He could feel the emotion like an easy wave, but somehow also like a punch to the stomach. “Want to get dinner tonight?”

“Let me think on that,” Cassie said as she walked towards the door. She turned back as she grabbed the handle. “Yes of course. I’ll text you when I’m done beating Ol’ Keanu’s ass,” she added with a wink towards Takeda. 

He snorted out a laugh. “Yeah or when he’s done kicking yours.”

Cassie only shrugged and looked back at Jacqui one more time. Takeda felt it again. The pulse of emotion between the two. He had seen it before, _felt_ it before. And he realized now that it had always been there. But this time it felt so _real_. Jacqui waved meekly at the other girl as the door slammed shut behind her.

The two were fairly quiet for a while, returning to their tasks without a word spoken between them. But the atmosphere in the room lingered. An entire conversation said completely without words. As a telepath, Takeda was used to this sort of thing, at least having silent conversations with his father all the time. But this was full of the unknown, unspoken words too quiet to bear but too loud to ignore.

“So you and Cassie,” Takeda finally said, unable to hold it in any longer. He couldn’t help the small smirk that crawled across his face either, especially when Jacqui looked up with a start.

The specialist relaxed pretty quickly though, looking back down at the wiring to a communicator piece. “Yeah. Me and Cassie,” she repeated.

The ninja just nodded. He turned around and shot a small blast of energy from the gauntlet towards a target. He fired two more shots before sliding the glove off of his wrist. “That is a noticeable gap in the firing rate. We should probably fine-tune that.”

Jacqui grunted in frustration. Takeda could hardly blame her. They had been working to make the energy beams more efficient for days. They were getting closer though. She slid off of the stool she had been sitting on and walked towards Takeda, who handed her the gauntlet. “So how long have the two of you…?”

“A few weeks,” Jacqui finished. She examined the energy outputs and took them back to her bench to tinker with. “I guess it’s been a long time coming though.”

Takeda nodded. Years in the making, he was sure. He should have been able to see the signs, to _sense_ the signs. And he felt so idiotic for not putting all the pieces together. The last time he had checked on Jacqui’s relationship status, she was unable to commit to a relationship to him. It hadn’t occurred to the ninja that this was because she was harboring feelings for someone else. “I…congrats, yeah. Sorry I didn’t notice.” The words came out as more of a grumble than he intended.

Jacqui stopped working, putting the glove down to stare at her teammate, sympathy radiating in her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry Takeda. Are…are you upset? Because I totally get if you’re-”

“I’m not.” Takeda said it a little too quickly. But it was true; he wasn’t upset at all. Surprised, maybe. Feeling stupid, certainly. But he was far from upset. “Cassie’s great and you’re…well you’re amazing. You know that.” Jacqui smiled just a little, and Takeda felt himself relax. “I don’t know I guess I’m just…kind of confused.” The words came out in a hushed confession.

“Oooh, feelings session.” Jacqui leaned over the table and propped herself up on her shoulders. “Want me to braid your hair while we talk it out?”

“You’re real funny.” Takeda laughed despite himself. He pulled up a stool across from the table where Jacqui sat and began to fiddle with some nearby electronics. However, they both knew it was a poor excuse of a distraction. He brought up the conversation, now he had to face the consequences of it.

He took a deep breath before finally biting the bullet. “I mean, you liked me, right? I wasn’t making that part up?” Takeda was absolutely certain he hadn’t imagined that. He had felt it in her brain, and in his own heart. It may have been fleeting and overshadowed by a stronger love, but he was certain there was _something_ there. He needed to know for sure, that he wasn’t going insane.

Jacqui chuckled and shook her head. “No Takeda. You weren’t making that part up. There might have been some adrenaline involved from the whole end-of-the-world thing. But I liked you. I _really_ did.”

 _I had just been waiting for Cassie to come around for so long. The both of us had. I couldn’t give up on it. Couldn’t give up on_ us.

Takeda picked up the thought with ease, rolling it over his head. He didn’t feel like he was some kind of rebound. In fact, the whole thing barely bothered him at all. It actually bothered him more that he wasn’t upset. All of this news should be a shock to his system. It should hurt him and make him angry. He should want to take that gauntlet and start punching things.

But all he felt was mild confusion. And he couldn’t quite place why.

“That’s good to hear,” Takeda said slowly, a small smile forming on his lips. “Gonna take some getting used to, is all.”  

Jacqui shrugged, but she was smiling too, still sympathetic. “You’ll move on.”

And just like that, everything crashed down. The pieces shifted a little, fitting slightly closer together. It still didn’t make perfect sense, but he was beginning to understand why he wasn’t nearly as upset as he thought he should be.

“Actually, I think I might already have.” Takeda furrowed his brow and then glanced up from his task at Jacqui, before cracking an awkward smile. “That might be why this is all so confusing.”

Jacqui only laughed. “Wow. Well this conversation got a _lot_ more interesting. Mind filling a girl in?”

He grabbed the gauntlet from across the table and began fiddling with the wires, trying to lower the rate of fire. He thought of how to phrase his next words, not wanting the specialist to mock him. “Sometimes I unintentionally read people. My dad and I are working on controlling that. Sometimes I hear some pretty useful information. Other times the thoughts make me…really uncomfortable.”

“Okay now I’m wondering if I actually want to know.”

“Just go with it.” Takeda fiddled with the wires, finding it helpful to his nerves to keep his hands moving.

“Okay so sometimes you accidentally invade people’s privacy.”

“One time I was training with my dad. We were doing some sparring and as soon as my fist hit his arm, I picked up a thought.”

“No seriously, do I _really_ want to know? Think hard about this one,” Jacqui said with a smirk. He knew that she wasn’t actually going to let the conversation drop, however.

“He was thinking about Master Hasashi’s chest hair.” Takeda finally said, his voice breaking a little at the memory. “Its thickness, its softness, how it feels as he runs his hands through it. The way Hanzo’s breath-you know, you probably get the idea.” He shuddered at the thought, trying to put the memories back away.

“Yeah I get the point.” Jacqui winced. “Telepathic powers aren’t all they seem.”

That wasn’t what Takeda was getting at, but she wasn’t wrong. He fiddled around with the device before finally setting it aside. “Do you think it’s genetic?”

“Telepathy? Yeah. I thought that much was obvious when your fath-”

“No. I meant…” Takeda tried to think of the right words for it. “I meant thinking of other guy’s chest hair.”

Jacqui stopped completely in her motions of tinkering with the gun mechanisms. Takeda could practically see the gears turning in her mind before she broke out into a huge smile, letting out an uncharacteristically loud laugh. “You have a crush on Jin?”

“I didn’t sayit was Jin.” Takeda was nearly choking on his own words. He was going to tell her eventually, sure. But he wasn’t supposed to be _that_ easy to read. It was his job to read other people. But Jacqui figured him out in an instant.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Jacqui assured, stifling a laugh. “I just…” she paused in her thoughts and sighed. “Actually I owe Cassie ten bucks.”

“You’re joking,” Takeda deadpanned. Jacqui only shrugged her head and winced apologetically. The ninja let his head hit the table for a second before looking back up at her. “It’s probably just an adrenaline thing, right? Like you said. I’ve been known to have a crush on just about anyone who can beat my ass,” he then offered. He had no problems having feelings for a guy. But Jin had been nothing but a friend and a support to him. He couldn’t risk messing that up, like he nearly did with Jacqui.

“You just admitted that Jin can beat you in a fight. Wow, today is just _full_ of information. Too bad Cassie’s not here.” Jacqui laughed and tossed the gun mechanism to Takeda.

“You wouldn’t tell anyone.” Takeda caught the mechanism and put it back into the glove. He locked it in and looked the whole thing over. He knew Jacqui well enough. Out of everyone else in the squad, she was the only one he’d ever trust a secret to.

“Of course I wouldn’t.” Jacqui’s tone was flippant as she motioned across the table. “Give it here.” Takeda slid the gauntlet across the work table and she caught it mid-slide. “What if it’s not an adrenaline thing? Jin’s an asshole, but there are things you got to admire about him.”

She wasn’t wrong. He had a quick mind and a silver tongue. And Takeda couldn’t pretend that wasn’t incredibly attractive. Jin was impulsive and it drove everyone on the team insane; but he knew how to get everyone out of tight situation as easily as he could get everyone into one.  He seemed to have so much contempt for himself, yet still held an angle of superiority. It was frustrating, but Takeda still found him endlessly compelling.

He glanced up at the woman, who was looking at him as though _she_ was the one who could see into his head. “Tell him.”

Takeda had to laugh at that. “I can read minds, remember? I already know his intentions towards me. I don’t feel like messing up a perfectly good friendship because I want to climb his arms like a monkey.”

“Wow. You really just said that.”

Takeda paused for a moment to process all of his words. If he didn’t feel like an idiot before, he certainly felt like one now. “Yeah. I really just said that.” He sighed, cradling his head in his hands and feeling more confused than ever before.

“You’ll figure it out, okay?” Jacqui’s voice was gentle, and reassuring. “And if you need more help on it, I’m here.” She snapped on the gauntlet and aimed it at the target just past Takeda’s head. The ninja flinched, but Jacqui aimed the energy gun perfectly. “Look; no more delay.”

Takeda smiled, standing up and brushing himself off. “Then I guess our work is done for the day.” Jacqui took off the gauntlet and tossed into a cubby where they kept their prototypes. The ninja offered his hand to her, helping her off of her stool. “After all, you have a hot dinner date to get ready for.”

“If by ‘hot’ you mean ‘hot and sweaty and eating Chinese takeout’? Then yes. Very steamy.” Jacqui chuckled and let go of Takeda’s hand. Her face was fond just thinking about her though, more relaxed than he had ever seen it around him. “Gotta love her though.”

“Yeah, apparently.” Takeda sighed, but he felt alright. Things still didn’t make perfect sense, but he was getting there. He held the door open for Jacqui and waited for her leave before flipping off the light to the tech lab.

“Okay but you _Jin_?” Jacqui the asked, after several moments of silence as they walked down the hallway. “I can’t believe I had a crush on a guy with such bad tastes. What does that say about _me_?”

Takeda shoved the girl playfully, but still hard enough for her to bump into the wall of the hallway. “See, now you’re making me regret trusting you.” He didn’t mean it, and she knows he didn’t mean it. The two smiled at each other, feeling better as friends than anything else.

Cassie was exiting the training hall, and the two walked towards each other as soon as they locked eyes. He watched the two women embrace, Jacqui running her hand through Cassie’s sweaty hair. Takeda sighed, feeling a strange relief watching the two of them. Things were a mess in his mind, he knew that. But for the first time, he felt like he could figure it out.


	3. Chapter 3

“Jacqui and Cass are dating.” Takeda isn’t sure why he said it so suddenly, as he and Jin walked down the halls together. He just couldn’t think of anything else to say. They had come from a briefing with their superior officers, and were both eager to do something other than listen to old people talk for hours. 

“Yeah. They are.” Jin spoke slowly, as though he were too slow to comprehend the words. He stretched his arms across his torso and rolled the muscles on his neck, letting out a small grunt. Honestly, Takeda knew he should have been more insulted by Jin’s insinuation, and by the fact that apparently Jacqui and Cassie had told him first. But his mind quickly became too preoccupied by the way Jin’s shoulder muscles always tensed whenever he did that particular stretch.

After a long few moments of admiration, he snapped back to his senses. “Wait. They _told you_?” He stopped in his tracks and looked at Jin incredulously.

Jin let out a small laugh, “It wasn’t obvious? I thought you could read minds.” He reached over and tapped the temple of Takeda’s head and then began walking down the hall again.

Takeda only grimaced, tired of feeling like he was the last to know anything. He was always talkative and friendly, but still felt like he constantly missed the obvious things. “I _can_ read minds. And right now you’re thinking of how badly you want to drop this conversation.”

It wasn’t necessarily true, but Jin seemed to get the picture pretty quickly. He raised his hands in defense with a small chuckle. “Hey, you brought it up. Not me. But fine then. What do _you_ want to talk about?”

Takeda knew what he wanted to talk about, if he were being honest. He wanted to talk about the two of them. About the small touches and flirtatious glances, about how _right_ it felt when Jin was with him. He needed to know if Jin could feel it too, but couldn’t find the right words.

Instead, he looked around the hall, avoiding Jin’s question. Finally, his eyes fell on an empty training room. He looked back at Jin and grinned. “I’m tired of talking. Let’s go a few rounds.”

With that, Takeda grabbed Jin by the wrist and dragged him into the training room. As soon as the door shut, he began to set up for a sparring match. “Really? You want to _fight_ me? You know I’m going to kick your ass again, right?”

“Last time was fluke,” Takeda assured him with a smile. He didn’t know if this would solve any of his anxieties and nervousness. But he knew that he had to do _something_.

“Last time, I didn’t even have my own weapon,” Jin retorted, pulling out his bow and spinning it around. He spun one time and moved into position of attack.

Takeda’s eyes lingered on his form. He brushed his hands through his hair, covertly touching his temple to get a glimpse into Jin’s mind. He liked the way the man focused himself before a battle, even in a spar between friends. He never fully gave up on his emotions in-battle, but instead let them fuel him. He would make an incredible Shirai-Ryu, Takeda realized.

“You look a little tense, Takeda,” Jin noted. “Pent up frustration? Or just nervous about me beating you again?”

“Just focused on kicking your ass.” Takeda rolled his shoulder muscles and pulled out his whips to test to make sure they were functional. Upon returning them, he jumped into his fighting stance.

“Good to know.” Jin smirked, holding out his arms to bait the ninja in.

Takeda saw through it easily, rushing forward to give the illusion of falling for it. But as Jin swun his bow downward, Takeda teleported to the other side of the man and pulled his left whip out. He knocked Jin backwards, putting him at a better position.  Jin spun back onto his feet effortlessly, whipping his bow around and sending three separate arrows towards Takeda. Takeda managed to dodge all but one, which grazed his shoulder and send him skidding into the ground. He was hit, but by no means out. “You’re fast with those.”

“I’m good with my hands,” Jin shrugged. Takeda sneered, trying not to imagine what else those hands could do. Jin smirked, making it apparent that he was doing this on purpose.

With that, Takeda bounced to his feet and let out a whip, grabbing onto Jin’s wrist and pulling him closer. He managed to land in two solid hits before Jin parried back and hit him away, successfully distancing them again. “What? No ‘get over here’?”

Takeda couldn’t help but laugh. “Doesn’t sound right when I do it.” Despite the battle at hand, Jin’s face looked so relaxed, happy in a way he rarely got to see. Usually he was so guarded and furrowed, lost behind sarcasm and vicious remarks. He wanted to see what was going on inside that Shaolin head, but there was no way to do it without being obvious.

“Yeah, well you’re no Scorpion,” Jin agreed before readying his bow. Takeda grimaced at him and rolled to dodge, using his powers to read where the arrow would land. He slid forward carefully, just barely missing the second arrow that Jin had for him.

Takeda slid forward, coming into a crouch. He elbowed upwards, lunging into Jin’s chest. The Shaolin fought back, blocking the man with his bow and parrying back the majority of his shots. But Takeda was relentless, moving quickly and effortless around Jin, not needing to read him to know his next steps.

It was like a dance, Takeda realized. One where he knew all the moves and never felt uncomfortable. Perhaps that’s why he liked Jin so much. Nothing seemed forced; it didn’t feel like he was trying to impress him.

Soon their game of footsies backed Jin into a wall, where he pushed himself off and landed a solid blow. It slid Jin a foot forward, away from the wall and at perfect striking distance with the bow. It could have easily meant defeat for Takeda, if he hadn’t teleported behind him. With this leverage, he grabbed Jin and threw him downwards. He used as much telepathy as he could muster to toss the monk down with force, landing on the ground with a loud thud.

Despite his better judgement, Takeda dropped directly on top of the man, sitting firmly on his chest and pulling out his sword. Caught in the heat of the battle, he held it to the man’s chin and shouted. “Yield!”

He was panting, he realized, and straddling the man below him. Jin was steadying his breathing as well, his neck completely stretched and exposed for the ninja who had bested him. As much as this flustered Takeda, he knew he could not move until Jin said the words to end the spar. He had some level of professional pride to uphold.

“I yield,” Jin muttered, moving his hands up to stroke Takeda’s bottom, looking up at him expectantly. “Do you?”

 _So much for professional pride_ , Takeda thought. He thanked the Elder Gods that he was wearing his combat uniform, which came complete with a sturdy metal cup blocking his privates. He slid backward, his heart pounding into his chest. “I think I do,” Takeda said carefully, shimmying himself down until he was on top of Jin’s lap, allowing for the man to sit up.

At this distance, nose-to-nose and in Jin’s lap, Takeda felt like he could see everything and do anything. Nothing he had felt before had given him so much power, yet made him feel so vulnerable. “You’re going to have to be surer than that.” Jin’s voice was more fond than chiding.

Takeda decided that enough was enough. Leaning forward, he closed the distance between the two. “I’m sure,” he whispered, not knowing if Jin even heard him. He didn’t care. Because in less than a second, neither of them were talking at all.

Kissing Kung Jin felt just like kissing anyone else. It was a motion, a symbol. It was a gesture of affection and something easily understood without words. It was more of a conversation than a sensation. At least, that’s how it was at first. But Jin kept breaking away and coming back for a little bit more, sucking at the bottom of his lip for a little a mapping his entire mouth in delicate kisses.

Before long, Takeda could feel a small burn of arousal in his belly. He ran his hands through Jin’s hair, still unable to keep his face away from the other man. He felt dazed, his lips repeating the same motions over and over, simply enjoying the sensation.

It wasn’t until Jin moved from his lips to his neck that Takeda realized they should actually _talk_ before continuing. Because if the monk kept nipping and licking at his neck like that, Takeda wasn’t sure he’d be able to talk at all. He slid backwards until he was completely off of Jin’s lap, half-hard and breathing abnormally. “I…” Jin looked at him, an apology ready and self-doubt in his eyes. “No I just…I need to know if you…” Takeda struggled for the words. “Jacqui,” he finally said. “Jacqui couldn’t make a commitment towards me. That’s why the two us didn’t-”

Before Takeda could even finish, the other man was laughing. He scooted back and rested on his elbows, entirely too casual. “You want me to take you to dinner first?”

The ninja felt himself relax a little, although that didn’t actually answer his question. “I mean, hey, if you’re offering…”

Jin was on his feet before Takeda could blink, holding out a hand to help him up. On his way up, Takeda considered brushing his hand across his temple, to get a read on Jin’s true intentions. He thought better of it, putting his hand down. The motion didn’t go unnoticed by Jin.

The monk pulled him in close, tilting his head until his forehead was flush against Takeda’s headband. He carded his fingers through the ninja’s hair. “You can read my mind, if you want.”

“I’d rather you just tell me to my face,” Takeda admitted, returning Jin’s smirk with a cheeky grin of his own.

“You never go easy on me, do you?” Jin sighed, pulling backwards. “I like you. Is that what you want to hear? You are the best thing that happened since joining this team. You don’t judge, but you never back down either.”

“Plus Jacqui says I have a nice ass.” Takeda played it off, but every part of his body felt like it was humming. His body was buzzing knowing his feelings were reciprocated.

Jin shrugged and waved his hand back and forth, raising his eyebrows. “It’s passable,” he said with a sly grin. Takeda bumped into him and lead Jin out the training room, fully intending on taking the monk up on that dinner date.

As soon as they left, Takeda looked over at the man. Sweat was cooling on his face and his shoulders were held high. But his expression betrayed nothing towards the conversation they just had. “I like you too, by the way. Took me a while to figure it out. But like you said, for a telepath I’m pretty slow on the uptake.” Takeda nudged into Jin’s shoulder. “Glad I figured it out though.”

Jin wrapped an arm around Takeda, before ghosting his lips across Takeda’s jaw, kissing lightly. Takeda picked up a hint of emotion, a fraction of a thought. There was a shred of self-doubt, a small shadow that cast over any happiness in Jin’s life. Takeda frowned, but didn’t say anything. This was still sudden, still new. He knew he’d have plenty of time to prove his feelings, to tell Jin he didn’t have to doubt it. The two walked down the building, arms around each other. Takeda smiled to himself. He’d have all the time in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you would like to request anything, feel free to hit me up on blundergod.tumblr.com!


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